Over the years I’ve tried a lot of things to deal with the reed situation. I’ve done everything from the “slap it on and play” method to synthetics and plasticovers to the whole reed rush and glass method and I’ve developed some pretty particular opinions about what I want to do and what I expect to get out of my efforts. I’m going to try to explain what works for me and what hasn’t worked for me and give some insight into how I got to where I am. It’s important to note that this is what I think and what I do. It’s in no way an indictment of other methods or products nor is it a “this is what’s best for everyone” treatise. As always, your results may vary and I just want to express an opinion that may help you out or at least make you think.
For me, there has been no bigger disappointment than synthetic reeds. The promise of them is off the charts. If I could buy one reed and leave it on the mouthpiece and know that every time I pick up the horn it’s there ready to play like an old friend it would make life so simple. It should be the absolute perfect solution except for one thing…I would have to commit to playing on what feels like a mediocre reed for the rest of my life. Something I would always be thinking I want to change rather than something that just lets me play. Now many other players have way better luck with them than I do and I envy them terribly but for me it’s just a big flop. I’ve tried tons of different synthetics in many different strengths and have always ben disappointed. The only benefit I’ve ever gotten from them is that I have an old Fibracell reed that stays in my case because I know I could get through a gig on it if every other reed I owned was somehow broken or exposed to kryptonite or something. For reference, I’ve never had to use it.
I did go through a phase where I used Plasticover reeds for a few years because I thought they lasted longer but I ended up realizing that really wasn’t true. The plastic would peel off the bottom where the reed vibrated against the mouthpiece and I think they ended up breaking down just as fast if not faster than regular reeds once that happened. This system did last for several years however.
Two other failed experiments were at either end of the “break them in” spectrum. I went through a phase when I was in college where I was constantly trying to adjust reeds and I went through a “slap it on and play” phase. I abandoned the former because it was terribly time consuming and I really ended up not getting the kind of results that would warrant that level of commitment and energy. I abandoned the latter because I ran into some situations where I was on a gig and was struggling to find a reed that was comfortable for me and I realized that I had higher standards for my performance and the ability to be comfortable and repeatable. Ultimately these two methods allowed me to finally hone in on what I do currently which for me is the best combination of repeatability, playability, and time management.
I now use this method for all of my reeds on any horn and it means I’m ready for any gig even if I haven’t touched that particular horn in a while. I like to start with ten reeds so that might mean two boxes of Van Doren’s for tenor but all of the other reeds I use come in boxes of ten. One quick note: Van Doren has these humidity seals for each reed and they don’t fit into my system at all so I like to start by opening up those packs the day before I need to work on reeds when possible. On the first day I get a cup of water and my ten reeds and sit down for a bit…this process takes about 50 minutes an evening. I soak the first reed in the cup while I put the horn together and then I put it on the mouthpiece while I put the next reed in the cup. The first day I play pretty lightly on the reed and only for a little less than 5 minutes…no altissimo and nothing really loud. When I take the reed off I place it on a flat surface and rub down the vamp towards the tip to seal up the fibers a little. NOTE: I find that rubbing reeds in this fashion seems to help a lot of problems like tubbiness on the gig and it especially helps when reeds feel a little hard (in case you’re doing the “slap it on and play” method…it seems to always help if I just rub in the same fashion with my thumb while it’s still on the mouthpiece). I then wipe it off, flip it over and put it on a flat surface to dry for the next day and repeat this with each of the reeds in turn. I don’t do any selection or grading at this time because they adjust and change over the next couple of days. I repeat this process over the next couple of days. Three days is the minimum effective time but I find that up to five days seems to work a little better but more days doesn’t gain you anything beyond that. On the last day I’m planning to work on them I also run the table of the reed on some plain white paper until it feels glassy to seal up those fibers as well. When I’m done I grab the four best to put in my reed guard and I then mark the rest as either reeds for the next round, reeds for practice or whatever (harder reeds might be better for small group playing for instance) and then I take any “rejects” and just put them in a big box for later. The reeds I take out in the case will get exchanged in rotation by sets. In a three set wedding gig I will switch out on every break. In longer concert situations I try to change at a mid point. When I trade them out like this they can last for 6 to 8 weeks easily depending on how much I play and this is true for all of my horns.
This may sound like a lot of work or wasted effort but the beauty of it is that I have stuff that I play and work on while I’m working on reeds and I’m guaranteed to play/practice from 3 to 5 days in a given week in preparation…it’s a great excuse to get some face time with my horns even when other parts of my life are trying to keep me from playing so I think it’s a great tool for improvement or at least maintenance since I no longer play full time. Also, I mentioned the big box of reject reeds above. The cool thing about this method is that “bad” reeds aren’t always lifelong rejects…some will age and get better, others might be better suited to a change of setup although I tend to stay on the same setup for quite a while. I think every reed has potential and I recently got a Reed Geek that I like very much for helping with that…but that’s a topic for another day.
